GREENWICH -- Chris Murphy and Rand Paul don't exactly come to mind as U.S. senators with a knack for finding common ground.

But when it comes to rendering aid to rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria, Connecticut's junior Democratic senator said Wednesday that he has more in common with his GOP colleague and the Tea Party darling from Kentucky than the man in the Oval Office.

Murphy recently co-sponsored a bill introduced by Paul that would block the U.S. from direct or indirect involvement in what he fears will become an all-out civil war in Syria.

"I know that it's strange to see a first-term senator challenge the president," Murphy said. "I worry that we are on the verge of repeating the mistakes of the past. I worry that putting arms in the hands of the rebels will make the situation worse, not better."

Murphy voiced his misgivings on President Barack Obama's strategy in Syria during the weekly meeting of the Retired Men's Association of Greenwich, his third visit to town since taking office in January.

Previously elected to three terms in the U.S. House, where he represented the 5th District, Murphy staked out his positions on student loan debt and his support for a comprehensive immigration reform bill before taking questions from the retiree group at First Presbyterian Church of Greenwich.

Murphy, who will turn 40 next month, bemoaned the cost of college tuition and said he favors a 3.5 percent fixed interest rate on subsidized student loans rather than a floating rate that could balloon to 7 percent or 8 percent.

A Williams College graduate who holds a law degree from UConn, Murphy said student loan debt has surpassed credit card debt and is bankrupting many Americans.

"I am caught in the middle," said Murphy, who is from Cheshire. "I am technically the poorest of 100 members of the United States Senate."

Some audience members, at least one in a seersucker blazer and another in Nantucket red shorts, chuckled as Murphy also reminded them that he is the youngest member of the Senate.

"Neither of those are high bars," he said alluding to his personal finances and age.

Greenwich is the hometown of Murphy foe and professional wrestling matriarch Linda McMahon, who spent $50 million of her fortune on her second unsuccessful bid in 2012. A contingent of Murphy loyalists in the audience praised the freshman senator for surviving the grueling contest and said that the playing field needs to be leveled for candidates of disparate means.

Murphy, who is not up for re-election until 2018, said he favors a taxpayer-funded campaign model like in Connecticut for candidates who meet certain benchmarks.

"I think we should get private fundraising completely out of politics," he said.

In an interview with Hearst Connecticut Newspapers afterward, Murphy weighed in on the international manhunt for Edward Snowden, a former U.S. spy agency contractor accused of leaking top secret information about domestic surveillance programs.

"I want this guy brought to justice," Murphy said. "I do not want to live in a world where a 29-year-old government contractor can decide for himself what information is classified and what information is not."